Fewer Law Officers Slain On Duty In 1998

Sixty-one law enforcement officers were murdered on duty in the United States during 1998, a decline of almost 13 percent from the previous year, the FBI reported on Thursday.

Releasing final figures for 1998, the FBI said nine fewer officers were slain at work that year than the 70 killed in 1997. The drop is consistent with a nationwide decline in all types of crime since the mid-1990s.

Southern states had the largest number of murders, 29, followed by Western states with 14, Midwestern states with 10, Northeastern states with three and Puerto Rico with five.

NORTHEAST

Court allows lawsuit from injured golfer

TRENTON, N.J. -- Yelling "fore" while playing golf is not just a courtesy -- in some cases it's a legal necessity, a New Jersey appeals court has ruled.

The court ruled on Wednesday that hitting a golf ball without warning is a recklessly dangerous act. That departs from standard sports liability law -- courts have held that sports carry a foreseeable risk of injury.

The ruling revived a lawsuit filed by Jeffrey Schick, who sued a golfing partner after he was struck in the face by a ball while playing at East Orange Golf Course in 1994.

SOUTH

Woman seeks spot on Citadel board

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Five years after the first female cadet was admitted to The Citadel, a woman has applied to be the first female member of the military school's board.

Allison Dean Wright, a nonvoting advisory member of the board since 1997, has applied to fill a vacancy on the panel.

"I feel like I would be making a difference if I could vote, and I haven't been able to do so for three years," Wright said.

Wright, 35, the director of the South Carolina Insurance News Service in Columbia, received a business degree from The Citadel's evening college in 1993.

Man's casino threat scheme backfires

BILOXI, Miss. -- A man's scheme to win money from a casino without gambling landed him in jail, police said.

Ronald Dean Cherry, 52, phoned the Treasure Bay Casino on Tuesday and demanded that employees deliver $100,000 to his home within two hours or he would start shooting people at the casino, police said. He even gave them his address, they said. Instead, the casino's security force contacted Biloxi police, who went to Cherry's home.

"It makes our job extremely easy when they give their name and address," said Biloxi Police Capt. William Kirk. "We don't have too many man hours on this one. Put the paperwork together and rock and roll."

WEST

Law admissions test cheaters sentenced

LOS ANGELES -- Two men who tried to cheat on the Law School Admissions Test by stealing answers from an exam given in an earlier time zone have been sentenced to one year of home detention and five years probation.

Danny Khatchaturian, 24, and Dikran Iskendarian, 23, and a third defendant must collectively pay nearly $97,000 in restitution to the Law School Admissions Council.

They planned to cheat by taking the law school admissions exam in Hawaii three hours after the third defendant, Ashot Melikyan, stole a test booklet from the University of Southern California Testing Center in 1997, prosecutors said.